We entered a new country today!! The Republic of San Marino!! It's the third smallest country in the World; next to the Vatican and Monaco. It is a mountainous micro-state surrounded by north-central Italy. Its capital, also named San Marino, is a medieval walled town with narrow cobblestone streets. Its Three Towers, castle-like citadels dating to the 11th century, sit atop the mountain peak.
As I think I have mentioned, we are travelling with a company called Grand Circle Cruise Line: the leader in enriching cultural experiences since...

San Marino. My soul. What a beautiful place. Unfortunately, I was there on a Sunday, so everything was closed except what was on the top of the mountain of San Marino City. Hm. To call anything a city in this country might be a little bit of a stretch. San Marino spans 60 sq. km. I’m not sure, but I think that is about the size of Ontario, California, the small city in the dessert outside of LA where I live. And, there are NINE municipalities here.
Pretty much everything to see in San Marino seems to be on top of the San Marino mountain,...

Got up after 0540, getting the shower out of the way before Molasses Man aka Lou headed in. Got some computer time in prior to o700 brekkie. It is going to be a good day with just a half day tour and a free afternoon. First official new WHS today to boot!
The brekkie was a cut below that in Rome. Still waiting for my first great cup of java. Went for a short walk prior to our 0900 rendezvous for the tour with Sara. The city of San Marion is atop Mount Triton, red clay tile roofs and green farm lands below.
The Sergeant Major aka Bitch did...

Up before 0530, roomie Lou with his early wake up call the culprit. We are both pretty much done and filling time as of 0630, brekkie in a half hour.
My South Korea book has arrived back home. Over the last 48 hours, the Penguins are Stanley Cup champs and the Warriors are NBA champs so things going well on the sports' front.
Everyone down shortly after 0700 with our early start. Not much left to pack this morning and down by 0800.
It was but a saunter to Roma Termini, the train station. Lou's main suitcase had wheels that seemed...

We're the only ones on the site, again. It's a big terraced site on the side of the mountain overlooking the surrounding hills & valley. There are lots of mobile homes on the other side of the site but they're all closed up for the winter, as is the restaurant & all the sports facilities.
We headed off at 10am to catch the bus to the old walled city of San Marino on the other side of the mountain only to be told that today was the feast day of St Agatha & the buses weren't running. However the lady in reception said she would take us there...

Well all went well with our bit of "wild camping", a nice quiet night tucked away in the corner with no disturbances. We got away earlier than usual, about 7.30 but there were a few geocaches along our coastal route today so we were hoping to log some. We got our first one right outside the site on the promenade. It was a small plastic case with a magnet inside so that it attached itself to the underside of a metal waste bin on a post.
We made our way up the coast heading for the small country of San Marino, tucked away up in the hills...

Hey everyone! Thom At The Keys,
We arrived in Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino (literally "the Most Serene Republic of San Marino) by train and bus yesterday. It is a city state of about 30000 people on the top of the highest mountain in the area. This place really is like a fairytale, there are castles all over the place (we climbed to the top of the two tallest this morning)and everything here is SUPER inexpensive! Fancy Italian handbags that go for 100 euro in Italy go for 20 or 30 here (and they're genuine, not knock offs). And...

Today it was time to say good bye to Venice and head back to Rome. Moat of the trip was pretty uneventful, just passing through flat Italian countryside until we got to the tiy City State Of San Marino. Perched high on the top of a hill it was well worth a visit even tough it was bitterly cold, being both up high and with a cold wind blowing. We'd taken a few rolls and the like from breakfast and we used those for lunch instead of buying lunch.
San Marino was a pretty neat place, magnificent views to the Appenines and to the Adriatic Sea....

I had no idea what I was heading to in San Marino not having done any research, it is another country to be added to my list and ticked off. San Marino is a sort of inland Gibralta, a big rock sticking up in the Italian countrside. There had been heavy snow the night before my arrival so I got my white christmas in about a week early. In the old town they have piped music in most of the streets, I never realised that so many songs had been recorded about snow but I was subjected to all of them, Bing's royalties must be going through the...